September 2026 Books

What’s new and good to read?

Dan Coombes has a look at what’s on offer from publishers in September and chooses Taipei Story by R.F. Kuang; Pea Green Boat by Stewart Lee; and The Rouse by China Miéville.

Taipei Story by R.F. Kuang

Lily heads off to Taipei for a summer of discovery, connection and general whimsical adventure while reconnecting with her heritage and learning all about culture, family and belonging. Instead everything goes… well, absolutely Pete Tong on pretty much every level, and Lily ends up on a life-changing journey she never imagined.

It’s worth pointing out how absurdly talented Rebecca F. Kuang is: she’s written fantasy, science fiction, retellings of myths and legends and ‘normal’ fiction, whatever that is, and won some of the biggest awards going for each genre. Her latest is deeply serious, strangely funny, meaningful, bittersweet and very likely to land her another award or two.

First love. Second language. Final goodbyes.

For Lily, mastering Chinese means connection: to her family, her heritage, herself. But what if waiting for perfection means it’s too late to get the answers she wants most? Yale student Lily Chen arrives in Taipei hungry: for family, for culture, for connection. But her summer of discovery quickly unravels.

Her classes are gruelling, her roommate unbearable, and a reckless, deeply awkward trip to the hot springs with a guy she barely knows soon ignites vicious gossip. Then her grandfather dies. Grieving and adrift, Lily must confront her own questions about the culture she inherited but never fully understood.

She embarks on a wryly funny, often devastating search for understanding: of herself, her family, and the meaning of home. All over one unforgettable summer in Taipei.

Taipei Story; Author R.F. Kuang

Pea Green Boat by Stewart Lee

Like it or not, as soon as the months ending in ‘ber’ come around, it’s basically Christmas, certainly in the publishing world anyway. Therefore a macabre and grotesque illustrated retelling of an Edward Lear poem, 96 pages long, re-imagined by a comedian pretty much loved and loathed in equal measure comes into its own as we start thinking jolly, festive thoughts. However famous Mr. Lee might be, this is probably a bit of a niche choice, but if his humour is up your street and you appreciate twisted takes on usually twee tales, this is an exceptionally funny and bizarre treat, as a gift or otherwise.

‘Why have we been press ganged into service together? What can they hope to achieve by sending this absurd duo out to sea? I am an owl. The Cat is a cat…’

In Pea Green Boat, Stewart Lee and David Waywell create a dark, grotesque retelling of The Owl and the Pussycat in which Edward Lear’s characters are revealed to be catastrophically poorly-equipped for maritime travel. Told through the increasingly deranged diary of the Owl, the real story is unmasked — he cannot open the honey jar due to his lack of opposable thumbs, he is terrified the cat will eat him in his sleep, and he struggles to play the guitar despite having no fingers. As hunger, exhaustion and poor navigation take their toll, it becomes clear that these two creatures should never have been put in a boat together.

Inspired by the cult 2001 stage piece, Pea Green Boat blends Lee’s fascination with Edward Lear and his own comedy. Now, with David’s gothic-comic illustrations, the story is brought vividly, hilariously and unsettlingly to life.

Pea Green Boat; Author Stewart Lee

The Rouse by China Miéville

A couple of China Miéville’s books fall firmly into my personal ‘changed my life a teeny bit’ category, and (aside from a critically acclaimed thriller written with Keanu Reeves in 2024, which I’m counting as a curveball even by this author’s standards) this is his first full-length novel in fourteen years.

I’m fairly excited and so might be slightly biased, but if there’s one guarantee with China Miéville it’s that he writes weird novels of the uncanny like absolutely no-one else around, and even his more straightforward books are densely packed creations that can bend your mind into interesting new shapes with fancy concepts and moments of skewed genius. He’s one of the smartest and most ambitious writers in any genre, and even if genre-bending fantasy, supernatural or science fiction isn’t normally your thing, it’s a great time to go out of your comfort zone.

From the bestselling master of uncanny fiction comes a defining work, twenty years in the making — a deeply moving, decade- and continent-spanning epic of grief, global tumult, and grim conspiracy. Maur’s life has been shaped by an unbearable loss. But in the aftermath of what is an apparently ordinary tragedy, deeper, stranger questions arise. Their answers may lie within the dark heart and darker history of an old soldier who shares Maur’s obsessions — and is violently pursued by the same unknown, unquiet forces.

So begins The Rouse, a masterpiece unlike any other: at once a sprawling saga of the bloody twentieth century, and the intimate story of two lives, their loves, regrets and secrets — and a terrifying journey into infinite mystery.

The Rouse; Author China Miéville